


The War of Broken Pawns

by shy_fox



Category: Gears of War (Video Games)
Genre: Explicit Language, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-16 10:52:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2267001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shy_fox/pseuds/shy_fox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sergeant Isolde O'Connor is in charge of a squad of ladies who know how to kick your ass. Alpha F is who you call when you need a delicate hand clenched around a fistful of bullets. Their sergeant is known for her problematic temper, can she hold it in long enough to get her squad out of trouble with minimal casualties as her world disintigrates around her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude to War

When Sergeant Isolde O’Connor stumbled out from the hospital a few days after she'd been dragged there kicking and screaming that she was fine, her broken right arm in a sling, she was surprised to find her squad waiting for her. Her best friend looked up from where she was lounging. "Isolde… so those butchers in there didn’t cut you up for lunch meat after all" the massively muscular Harmony Johnsonjoked with an easy smile, clapping a hand on Isolde’s shoulder. Isolde managed a weak grin in reply. “Nope. Couldn’t get their knives through my thick skin. Said I was too small and skinny to eat anyway, not enough meat on me.” Harmony laughed. “Good to have you back.” 

The rest of the squad gathered around her and Isolde looked them all over as she silently counted them off: Alice, Claire, Megan… everyone was there. “I’m amazed you all came… I mean, don’t you have work to do?” Harmony was about to reply when a young helmeted COG Gear ran up to them. “Ma’am!” He saluted crisply. “What is it, soldier?” Isolde immediately stepped forwards and eyeballed him. “HQ requested that I fetch you the moment you were released from hospital… they have an important mission for you and Alpha F.” 

Isolde scowled and flexed the hand on her broken arm. “What, already? Fuck, kid. I’m all fucked up, my squad isn’t much better, and those bastards want to throw us into the lion’s mouth again?!” Harmony put a cautionary hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Easy, Sergeant… the boy’s only doing his job.” 

The young Gear had backed away a step, away from this crazy woman who looked like she was going to explode. After a moment Isolde managed to collect herself and blinked at the boy. “Stop backing away, kid, and run and tell those fuckers at HQ that we’re on our way.” The young man saluted quickly and ran, ran from the imposing all-female squad. The women looked at each other and just laughed. 

The all female squad entered HQ in a highly dramatic way. Isolde snapped a somewhat sloppy left-handed salute to the man bent over a map. “Sir…” He looked up and blinked at Isolde’s broken arm. “I was told that you’d made a full recovery, Sergeant.” She looked down briefly at the plastered arm and shrugged indifferently. “I can still handle a weapon, sir. My left hand is almost as good as my right.” 

The man nodded absently and returned to his map. “Sergeant, the higher-ups wanted me to inform you that you and your girls will be going in today. We’ve got a small town under Locust control that’s just too close to Jacinto for comfort, and we need you to clean it out.” Isolde exchanged glances with Harmony, who was scowling. “There might be some Stranded living there, and we need you girls to get them out.” Isolde felt anger surge through her, and let her mouth run away with her again. 

“Sir, what the fuck?! We all got beat up badly in our last mission, and we were promised that we could sit the next one out. And now, on top of it, you want us to mollycoddle a bunch of sick and dying civilians?” The captain scowled at her. “If you don’t like it, O’Connor, then you complain to someone who cares. I don’t have the time or resources to validate the existence of someone who, frankly, has been a pain in my ass from day one when her sorry carcass arrived for NOT FOLLOWING PROTOCOL!” 

The captain, obviously venting his frustration, had stepped forwards and was standing very, very close to Isolde and staring her in the eyes. She wiped away the spit on her face and stared him down. “I’m sorry, sir, if you don’t like the way I do things. But you can’t argue with the results.” The captain stepped back and turned to his map again, a vein pulsing unpleasantly in his forehead. “No, I can’t.” 

He took a few deep, calming breaths and pointed to the map. “The town is here… it’s a hot-zone, so we can’t drop you directly. Instead, we’ll be dropping you here.” He pointed to a spot maybe three kilometres from the town. “You'll have to wait til nightfall before you move out; we've got heavy resource drain in the west today, lots of emergence holes, and we can't spare that many Ravens to ferry civilians out. Once you have the civilians in hand, take them to the LZ. The nearest possible LZ for that many choppers is here…” He moved his finger to a wide open space about five kilometres. Isolde stared at it, feeling her stomach clench. “There’ll be a chopper waiting outside… get the supplies you need and head out, Alpha F. Dismissed.” 

Isolde balled her fists, her eyes burning into the back of the captain’s head, but Harmony grabbed her and together with Alice and Claire managed to restrain their headstrong leader. Meg had managed to stay out of it as usual, Isolde noted bitterly. 

The women were preparing to leave when the young COG Isolde had scared earlier ran up again. “Sergeant… I’ve been told to inform you that you’ve got a new rookie teammate.” The boy had wisely stayed out of Isolde’s reach, because she turned on him with viciousness usually only seen in wild animals. “WHAT?!” 

The boy backed away as Harmony and Alice grabbed Isolde to stop her wringing the boy’s neck.“They’ll… Uhh… they’ll be here in a few minutes.” He saluted quickly and ran away as fast as he could, and the other women let Isolde go. She hunkered down where she was and put her head in her hands. Concerned, Harmony asked her “You ok?” Isolde shook her head quickly. “They make us go out when we’re all fucked up to a boiling hot zone AT NIGHT where all of us are likely to get killed… they make us look after a bunch of Stranded… and on top of it…” 

She suddenly stood with a burst of energy and punched the side of the Raven helicopter with her good hand. “THEY LAND ME WITH A FUCKING ROOKIE?!” she leaned her forehead against the cool metal of the helicopter, taking deep breaths as Harmony patted her back and murmured soothingly. “Heh… I guess the ‘fucking rookie’ would be me…” 

Isolde turned and blinked at the new voice, her face skewing into a confused look as she stared at the young man in front of them. 

“Uhh… kid? This is Alpha F… ‘F’ stands for Female. This is a female squad.” Her words just made him smile good-naturedly. “I know. But the captain thought it would be good experience for me to fight with you ladies, considering I’m the chairman’s son.” Isolde felt this added responsibility like a ton of bricks falling on her, and she had to hunker down again with a hand to her head or risk passing out. “You’re… the chairman’s kid? Are you fucking with me?” 

She squinted up at him, taking in a moderately handsome face, curly black hair, blue eyes and an easy smile. The kid looked like he was about twelve, but the dark stubble on his chin hinted at many more years under his belt. Isolde stood with a groan as Harmony asked “how old are you, son?” He smiled at her as he replied “seventeen.” Isolde ran her left hand over her face in exasperation. “You’re still a little boy. Got a name, kid?” 

He nodded quickly and held out his hand. “Adam Prescott.” Isolde glanced down at his hand for a long moment, and then Harmony pushed her shoulder insistently with one finger. Isolde shook the boy’s hand. “Sergeant Isolde O’Connor… now your daddy does know that there’s a huge chance that you’re gonna get beat up and killed, yeah?” 

Adam nodded. “He understands. He thought it would be good practise for me in case I ever want to enter politics.” Isolde sighed, and nodded to the other women as they climbed into the chopper. 

“Get on board and hold onto something, kid… this is likely to be a bumpy ride.”


	2. Meet The Squad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Necessary character development: next chapter has combat.

As the landscape flew by below them, Adam Prescott looked over at his new squad mates in curiosity. His eyes fixated on each of them in turn, pondering. 

One of them, who’d been introduced as Alice, was very slender for a Gear with short mousy brown hair and deep brown eyes. She looked far more suited to information relay than to field work, but the confident way she held her Lancer spoke of strength that was hidden in her slim frame. 

The one who’d been introduced as Megan was a stunning raven-haired, black-eyed beauty who’d somehow found the time to do her makeup and nails, and Adam couldn’t help but let his eyes be drawn to her. Claire was very short with long straight blonde hair that was tied up in a neat pony tail, and she kept fingering the handle of an antique pistol at her waist as she stared out at the rushing land below. 

But the two that were of most interest to Adam were Harmony and the Sergeant: Harmony was definitely an older woman, her rich chestnut hair shot with silvery gray tendrils and her handsome, square face lined with wrinkles and weather-beaten. 

She was the mother of the squad and Adam immediately identified her with his own grandmother. The modified .85 calibre shotgun in her hands reminded the boy even more of “Gammy”, who was known to chase off poachers with just such a weapon. 

Finally, Adam’s eyes roamed to the sergeant. She was sitting staring at the floor scratching under the cast on her arm with what appeared to be a fork, every so often making a face. Her hair was bright red, or at least it would have been if it had been long: the sergeant had shaved her head into a crew-cut style that really didn’t suit her. The short fuzz that did enshroud her head made her look like her head had caught fire, and her bright green eyes were penetrating. 

*

As Isolde dug under the itchy cast with the fork she wondered how the hell she was going to get out of this alive. Last time it’d been pure luck that her last pistol round had driven itself into the eye of the Locust that had broken her arm, killing it instantly and allowing her to get away. 

She was sure that the Goddess of Luck wasn’t going to smile on her again so soon. 

“Well I’ll just have to use my skills then.” 

She hadn’t even been aware that she’d said it out loud until Harmony glanced over and asked “what?” Isolde shook herself and shrugged. “Just saying that I’ll have to use all my skills to beat your score this time, old woman.” Harmony laughed. “I don’t think so. No one beats my score, especially not when I’m armed with my baby.” 

The bantering between the two women died down eventually, and all their thoughts turned inwards.

Suddenly there was an odd whistling noise that made all of their stomachs drop. 

“MORTAR!” 

Isolde was instantly on her feet, her fork put away in the blink of an eye as she grabbed hold of a handle sunk into the metal above her head. The other squad members scrambled and did the same, and the mortar whistled by so close that the Raven spun around a little from the slipstream. 

Adam was nearly jolted out of the Raven, but Isolde grabbed him by the back of his armor and hauled him back in growling “hold on tighter next time. I don’t want to have to scrape your sorry ass off the ground and bring you home to your daddy as gloop in a matchbox!” Adam nodded and hung on grimly, his heart pounding. 

Isolde kept tight hold of the rim of his Gear armour as more mortars shook the evasively-manoeuvring Raven to keep him in place, and he irrationally noticed how pretty her hands would be if she bothered to wash off some of the dirt and engine grease and let her nails grow. 

His eyes travelled up her arm to her face: she was looking away from him, but he could see the outline of a graceful jaw and a nose that was (surprisingly) straight after years of combat. Her skin, at least the patches where it was clean, was a kind of chalky paleness that Adam knew would be silky smooth if allowed to be. He was jolted from his close examination of the sergeant by a particularly bad explosion as the female Gears slid about the hold of the Raven and all scrambled to regain their feet before they fell out. 

Thankfully they were able to land a few moments later, Isolde leading the charge crouched over to avoid being beheaded by the Raven’s rotor blades. Once they’d disembarked and moved to the minimum safe distance, the Raven took off again. Isolde turned her back immediately on the departing machine and told her squad

“Keep your eyes peeled, ladies and gentleman… we’re gonna be walking along a very exposed and dangerous track, and I don’t wanna have to high-tail it.” 

She walked off towards an opening in the trees, and the squad followed her casting their eyes around somewhat apprehensively.


	3. Trouble in the Woods

Sergeant O’Connor walked along the path, her eyes slowly roving from side to side. Behind her, her Gear squad also walked quietly: the sergeant could sense their tension. The woman smiled a little, her mind threatening to wander off on a tangent, but she hauled it back angrily and focused on getting through the thick bushland without springing a Locust trap.

A tiny flicker of movement ahead made her freeze, her heart beating slightly faster. She held up a hand and peered at the place, hearing Harmony move up beside her. 

“Sarge?” 

Isolde shook her head and signalled “movement ahead. Possible ambush.”

Harmony also peered further ahead as Isolde looked around, knowing that an ambush would try to distract them and make them focus on one point, but there were no other signs at all. Harmony thumbed the safety of her shotgun and moved ahead to investigate, her head swinging from side to side. She reached the spot and froze, and for a heart-stopping second Isolde thought she’d been shot.

Suddenly a small deer darted across the path, pausing to stare at the soldiers before running for its life. Harmony sighed with relief. "All clear." The rest of the squad moved up and Harmony started to hum an old song from before the war started. It was a reassuring noise that faded into the background as Isolde tuned it out to better listen to the noises of the forest: the rustling of the branches in the wind, the heavy tramp of her soldier’s booted feet, the wind softly whispering ‘hostiles’ as it whistled through the trees… 

The sergeant mentally backed up and considered that last thought for only a second before it clicked. She tapped Harmony on the shoulder and motioned “Enemy”. The older woman nodded, thumbing the safety off her gun again, and the word went down the line. 

They walked as silently as heavy metal plate armour would allow, their eyes flicking from side to side and their ears trying to discern the sounds of an enemy from the sounds of the nearly silent forest. Even the birds had stopped singing, flying away to avoid the monsters in the woods. 

Suddenly something glinted back in the woods and Isolde, not wasting any time thinking, fired on it. There was a strained roar as something was splatted, and suddenly the woods on their left were swarming with Locust. 

“TAKE COVER!” 

Isolde roared as she obeyed her own order, leaping behind the relative cover of a rock. She glanced quickly at her squad to make sure they were all still alive: they were, and she allowed her mind to be wiped clean of thought as she waited for the next pale head to pop out of cover quickly before pulling the trigger and blowing the monster’s brains out.

Surprisingly the Locust retreated before the stoic resistance of the Gears, and they were able to advance quickly along the path with no further mishaps, for once.

*

The buildings didn’t so much start as just begin suddenly. The trees just stopped, and the buildings just started. In the distance Isolde could see what appeared to be a blockade of some kind, but she deployed her squad to check out the buildings and avoid being ambushed from behind. 

All they found in the nearly ruined houses was dust, cobwebs and a few dried-out corpses. Isolde straightened from checking one and headed towards the blockade she’d spotted ahead and ran her eyes along the wall. It was impressive: although it was made of junk and scraps, it looked like it could withstand just about anything the Locust could throw at it. She nodded to herself, and led the way to the gates. 

“Stop right there!” A voice called from above, and all of them looked up at the ancient gate guard. He eyeballed them suspiciously, and Isolde noticed that Harmony stepped forwards a little. “Jock, it’s alright, it’s me Harmony.” 

The man’s old face eased out of a suspicious glare to a toothless smile. “Well-well! Harmony! I didn’t expect to see you out here again so soon.” 

The older woman smiled, and then looked around. “Would you mind letting us in? We got jumped, and I know that I need a stiff drink. I don’t think any of these young ones could handle your foul brew.” The man laughed and beckoned them as one side of the gates opened. 

They were eyeballed suspiciously by a young woman toting a pistol who was manning the gate, and with a slight start Isolde realised that the gate guard and the young woman had exactly the same suspicious glare. The gate clanged shut behind them, and the young woman pushed a thick strip of metal across it, barring it shut. 

Jock the gate guard bounded down the stairs with the energy of a much younger man, and Isolde saw that the young woman climbed the stairs to take over his watch. Jock and Harmony embraced warmly, and walked arm in arm through the dirty streets. 

Surprised at her friend, Isolde could do little but follow and knew that the others were just as confused as they followed behind her. Jock led them to a small house, warmly lit on the quickly darkening day, and held the door open. 

“Well? Come on! You’re letting all the heat out!” 

The Gears hurried inside the building to find a neat and tidy home that was a little cramped with all the people inside. Isolde’s eyes took in the fairly clean tablecloth on the table and the bunch of sweet-smelling wildflowers on the windowsill, a stark contrast with the fortified window behind the blooms, and knew that there was a home-conscious woman around.

Sure enough, a woman with the same eyes as Jock soon bustled in from another room and froze as she caught sight of all the Gear soldiers standing somewhat awkwardly in her kitchen. “Dad…?”

She asked cautiously, her eyes seeking out Jock. He smiled at his daughter and patted Harmony on the shoulder. “This is Harmony Johnson, a good friend of mine from the old days. This is her squad… Uhh…” He blinked as he realised he hadn’t caught any of their names. Surprisingly it was the only male of the squad who stepped forwards and extended a hand. 

“Adam Prescott. This is Alice, Megan and Claire,” he pointed to each one as he said their names “and Sergeant Isolde.” 

The woman nodded to each of them and did a strange little bobbing curtsey to Isolde. “Welcome to our home… my name’s Olivia. I hope my father told you to wipe your feet?”  
Jock looked a little sheepish and said “they weren’t all that dirty, really …” Olivia sighed, but she let it go. 

Tucked up for the afternoon in Olivia and Jock’s cosy little home, Isolde could almost forget that a war was raging outside. Harmony and Jock were drinking something foul-smelling and black, but none of the others were prepared to risk it.

While they loitered Claire used her first aid kid to treat Alice: the slender Gear had a small wound on her arm where a Locust bullet had found its way through a gap in her armor. She made a face as the alcohol cleaning solution stung the wound, but didn’t say a word of complaint as Claire bandaged it. 

Afternoon rolled around too quickly, and Isolde went for a walk through the settlement in the weak sunshine. Everywhere she looked she saw people glaring at her suspiciously and sighed through her nose: they always thought that Gears only came to recruit from amongst the Stranded taking the strongest fighters away, which just wasn’t true. Suddenly sick of the disapproving glares, the sergeant climbed the stairs onto the wall to look out at the forest. 

The girl who’d let them into the compound glanced over at her and rolled her eyes before returning to her vigilant scouting of the surrounding woods. Curious, Isolde headed over to her and stood beside her. They stood without talking, both looking out into the woods and both waiting for the other to talk. Before Isolde could say anything she detected the barest pale flicker of motion and her hand went immediately to her weapon. 

“Over there… saw something.” 

Her voice was soft, only just carrying to the other woman’s ears, and Isolde saw her nod out of the corner of her eye as they both tried to see what the flicker was. 

Unsurprisingly the Locust attacked only a few moments after they’d been spotted, apparently confident in the element of surprise. However they were unprepared for the resistance from above the main gate, where they were concentrating their attacks: the quickly repeated bursts of a Gear Lancer, accompanied by the ringing shots of a pistol that was powerful enough to tear right through flesh and take chunks with it, made them falter. Their leader roared something guttural and they resumed their attack, although clearly less enthusiastic about it. 

“GEARS!!!” Isolde roared a little pointlessly, knowing that the sound of gunfire would draw her squad from the camp to the main gate.

She risked a glance over her shoulder as she ducked down behind the partition to reload and couldn’t help but smile as she saw her squad come pelting down the main road of the compound. They were accompanied by a number of Stranded with their own weapons, but the Stranded were struggling to keep up. Harmony took the stairs two at a time and had fired her shotgun twice before the Locust had even registered her popping up over the protective wall. 

She slid down next to Isolde as bullets whistled over her head and grinned at her sergeant. “The excitement never stops, does it Sarge?” Isolde blind-fired over the wall and nodded as she heard a satisfying roar of pain, and returned Harmony’s grin with her own vicious smile. 

“Nothing beats splatting the brains out of some Locust after a few drinks to give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside.” 

There was an alarming rumble nearby, and Isolde looked down in horror to see a Locust emergence hole opening up in the middle of the compound. 

“Aww SHIT!!” 

The woman dove away as one of the emerging Locusts threw a grenade, just barely missing her. The shockwave pushed her down the stairs, swearing the whole time, and she landed in an ungraceful heap at the bottom with a clang with bits of metal falling all around her. The sergeant immediately scrambled for cover, not forgetting her Lancer, as Locust bullets sizzled into the ground where her nose used to be.

Once behind the somewhat dubious cover of a wall, she toucher her radio and growled “Hey bitches. Anyone out there still breathing?” 

Almost everyone quickly radioed back, and Isolde breathed a sigh of relief. Then she realised that Adam hadn’t replied, and swore: she took a very quick look over the wall before she was pinned down again and spotted a crumpled heap where the walkway had fallen from the force of the grenade. 

“Fuck…” She murmured almost absently, checking her ammo. There was no way that she could get to him just then, but there was a serious chance that he’d been badly injured from the fall or a Locust round (or even a stray friendly one), and Isolde knew she had to think quick or he might die and she’d be given light clerical duties. With a shudder at the prospect she risked another look out to see where the enemies were, and was surprised when Jock leaped over the wall in a very impressive jump for an old man to land beside her.


	4. Nightfall

Isolde watched the Locust with some hesitation: she knew that she had to get Adam out of there ASAP, but the filthy mongrels were between her and the chairman’s son, and they were pissed. Jock glanced over at her and seemed to realise what a predicament she was in, and nodded towards where Adam was lying. 

“That boy’s a strong one, sergeant. He can last a few more minutes while we deal with these pieces of shit.” Isolde nodded at his comment, absently rubbing her thumb over the chainsaw part of the Lancer. Making a decision, she put a hand to her radio and asked “can anyone support me if I duck out to get Adam?” 

Claire immediately replied “No can-do, Sarge. Alice and I are pinned down by the burnt-out shop.” 

Isolde swore under her breath and listened for Megan’s reply. “Sorry, Sergeant. I’m protecting some young ones, and I think I can hear the Locust advancing.” Isolde swore again, her voice harsh as she rattled off a long chain of swears. When she was done she turned to find Jock just staring at her, his face pale. 

“I ain’t never heard a pretty woman swear like that before.” Isolde grinned at him, priming a grenade as she told him “you’ve obviously never spent time in the Gear barracks then.” She threw the grenade without looking, and smiled in a satisfied way when the two of them were splattered with assorted disgusting bits and pieces. “Lovely.”

*

Adam came-to slowly, trying to take stock of what hurt. The pain crashed over him like a wave and he suddenly discovered that everything hurt. He managed to stifle his cry of pain, biting the inside of his cheek so hard it bled, until the full force of the pain had passed and he was able to painfully open his eyes. He was covered in rubble, and suddenly his ears tuned into gunfire close by. He froze, hoping like hell that an enemy hadn’t been watching him wake up and was about to shoot him in the head. 

After a few minutes he surmised that he must not have been noticed, and started to check if he was badly hurt. His chest hurt where a large concrete block had landed, and he knew that the Gear armour had probably buckled under the impact. What concerned him most, however, was the hand he could see poking out from under the rubble next to him. 

He managed to shift the block and roll over but immediately knew that was a mistake: the Gear armour had definitely dented and was now poking him sharply in the chest. He kept rolling, fighting the urge to pass out again, and somehow managed to crawl over to the other pile of rubble. 

His hands scrabbled against the stones in the pile, cutting his fingers and making them bleed. He dug under the stones, wincing as the dust entered the fresh cuts, attempting to free the hand and whoever lay beneath it. Luckily the rubble was loosely packed, and he was able to free the body beneath fairly quickly. 

He pulled a thin metal sheet away from the person’s face and revealed the graceful lines of a woman’s face. She was covered in dust and he could smell blood, although if it was his or hers he couldn’t tell. He quickly uncovered her body and checked her pulse: it was beating, but very faintly. Being careful not to jar her or injure her further he dragged her towards the nearest building, amazed that the Locust hadn’t noticed them yet.

Safe in a room, he checked her for a pulse and tried to remember what had happened. He found his memory was distorted and jumped from event to event, but no definite recall of the obvious explosion. Adam surmised that he must have been knocked out from the force of the blast, and then suddenly remembered that he had his radio on him. 

“Sarge…?” 

His question was met by a squeal of static that made him pull the damn thing from his ear with a muffled curse that his mother would have probably fainted at hearing him say. He rubbed his aching head, forcing his brain to concentrate. Everything seemed to fade as he stared at the girl’s face, a memory blasting through his brain with almost as much force as the bomb… he knew this girl. Why did he know this girl? He wracked his brain, trying to place her, and growled softly when he couldn’t. 

He absently watched the soft rise and fall of her chest for a moment before he realised what he was looking at: blood. With a hiss he grabbed his knife and sliced open her shirt. 

There was a fairly shallow wound on her chest: the source of the blood. He ripped parts off her shirt and created a makeshift bandage, cursing his bad medical skills. She groaned once, but remained unconscious. When she was bandaged he peeked out around the corner to where the Locust were: with all the distorted sounds echoing down the hallway, he couldn’t pick out what was going on. His stomach clenched as he remembered he needed to secure a weapon: currently both he and the girl were totally defenceless except for the combat knife that had somehow survived strapped to Adam’s shin. 

He muttered “need to get a weapon…” and glanced back at the girl. 

She’d be ok for the few minutes he’d be gone to pick up a gun from somewhere out there… wouldn’t she? Cursing his inability to make decisions, Adam remained where he was and attempted to fix his radio by poking it, yelling at it and banging it against the wall a couple of times. 

After a moment’s banging on the wall with the stupid crap radio, he realised that the white noise in his ear had gone, and he was able to talk into it. 

“Sarge? Sergeant Isolde?” 

He didn’t hear his own voice in the radio and hoped that he hadn’t broken the damn thing for real. He was surprised when he heard 

“Fall back and regroup! Send an order for another wave!” 

In a deep roar that he knew didn’t belong to any of his squad. Somehow Adam had managed to accidentally hit his radio to tune into a Locust frequency. He hadn’t even been aware that they knew how to use radio technology, but there was the proof. He listened, fascinated, as the Locust yelled at each other about “the flame-head” advancing and surmised that must have been his sergeant. 

He was so engrossed with the strange voices in his ear that he didn’t notice Isolde sneaking up behind him until she grabbed him and snarled in his ear 

“You sad excuse for a warrior… you’re not even paying attention! How am I ever going to keep you safe if you keep trying to get yourself killed all the time?!” 

Surprised, Adam looked up at her and realised from the look in her eyes that she’d been worried about him. Isolde blinked, and the worried look in her eyes vanished to be replaced by the usual indifference and then curiosity as she knelt beside the bleeding girl. 

“This is Jock’s granddaughter… WHAT IS SO GODDAMN INTERESTING?!” She ripped the radio from his ear and shoved it in her own, and her eyes widened. “Prescott… how did you get this?” 

Adam shrugged, watching his sergeant for any sign of displeasure that might get him kicked out. But she just stared at the ground, and handed it back to him. 

“Don’t change the channel on it… I’ll get you another radio. We can definitely use this.” She tucked the radio in a pocket, and turned back to the girl. “How long ago was she wounded?” 

Adam looked over, frowning as he saw that her makeshift bandages were soaked with blood. 

“A while ago… it wasn’t even that bad an injury.” She checked the girl’s pulse, and scowled. “It might be worse than it appears. We have to get her out of here.” 

The sergeant turned and sized up Adam. “Prescott, you’re a muscular kid. Carry her, but gently.” 

He nodded and quickly picked her up, surprised how slight her weight was. Her head lolled against his chest and rested there, and he felt surprisingly protective of the girl. 

*

Olivia fluttered around the girl in Adam’s arms, tears in her eyes and her voice shrill. Isolde watched the three of them, wondering at the comfortable way that Adam held Olivia’s daughter. She absently dug under her cast with her fingers, trying to scratch an itch that was too in the middle to be got at from either side, and scowled when she realised she couldn’t reach it. 

As the sergeant moved into the kitchen of the tidy home to find something – anything – to scratch her itch, she suddenly noticed just how little room there was in the house. 

Isolde felt herself start to breathe faster as the walls suddenly seemed to close in on her, and knew she had to get outside before the panic attack affected her so much that she started to hyperventilate and eventually passed out. Mumbling excuses that went unheeded by the others, she staggered outside and fell to her knees in the street. 

Once her breathing had calmed down, Isolde looked up at the sky trying to keep her mind completely free of the terrible montage of thoughts and memories that always inevitably came up after a panic attack like that… but they came anyway, no matter how hard she tried to keep them out, and so she bowed her head and allowed them to explode fully into her mind.

First there was the darkness. She’d never liked the darkness: it was close, hot and dangerous. The stink of other people pressed her from all sides, but she couldn’t see them, couldn’t feel them… but she could hear them. 

The eardrum shattering screams had scared the girl at first, but soon she learned to revel in them: they were lifelines of sound that meant she wasn’t alone. Then came the light – horrible, glorious light – that meant danger and death to anyone that saw it. Slimy hands grabbed her and no matter how hard she struggled and screamed they wouldn’t let her free to return to her dark existence. 

Isolde didn’t remember the next bit: she’d been told that her brain had blanked it out to try and protect her sanity. All she knew was that the next memory was her staring down at her bloodstained hands, holding a gun and her eyes stinging with tears she didn't know she could still cry. 

She remembered looking up at the doorway of the room that she could never quite remember and saw movement: shakily she’d raised the gun again and pulled the trigger, but it was empty and her hands were too sore to fire again anyway. 

She’d thrown down the gun, preparing to fight the next shadow with her bare hands… but the people in the bulky armour didn’t appear to pose a threat to her. One of them even seemed to know her name: the tall brown-haired woman kept saying it like a question. Isolde… Isolde…! She’d had blacked out then, and woken up in a clean white room. 

The sergeant came back to herself too quickly, her senses rushing back all at once and making her feel dizzy. Harmony was standing in front of her looking concerned, helping the younger woman to her feet and steadying her when she almost toppled. "Sarge..." Isolde shook her head, dismissing the gentle reprimand Harmony was about to give her; she couldn't deal with anyone else's concerns right that second.

One wobbly step later, and Isolde squared her shoulders: she was a commanding officer, she couldn't afford to lose her head. If she did people died. More confident now, the sergeant took another step and another. She didn't know where she was going but it didn't matter to her right then.

Before she could get very far, the lookout above the ruined wall yelled “INCOMING!” With no further thought Isolde ran back to the wall, grabbing her gun from Alice. 

“We have to get these people out of here now! This place isn’t gonna last much longer.” Isolde growled the words as she ran, her trigger finger itching. An incoming grenade forced her to dive away and for an instant she saw the other women ushering Stranded away from the contact zone, down the other end towards the far wall. Then she landed with a heavy crunch and rolled to her feet, wincing a little as she felt her broken arm scream in complaint. Isolde ignored it, however, and brought her gun up to rest comfortably on her shoulder in a well-practised manoeuvre. 

The Locust horde was too much for her, and suddenly she couldn’t hold them off by herself. Isolde slowly retreated, ducking behind cover where possible, trying to sneak glances to see if all the Stranded were out yet. Harmony waved to her from the back: the ok signal, meaning all civilians were out. Isolde nodded to herself, glad that she didn’t have to bother with the Stranded as she wildly mowed down wave after wave with her Lancer. 

She let her mind wander momentarily in the calm that she always felt firing at enemies and gasped as a sudden memory hit her: a man’s face and cold, soothing voice telling her it was all going to be ok… and a hand raised above her holding a scalpel.

“ISOLDE FOR FUCK’S SAKE GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE!!”

Harmony’s voice on the radio brought her suddenly back to the present and Isolde lifted the dipping barrel of her Lancer one last time. She shifted so she could fire one handed and primed a grenade with her free hand: a diversion so she could perform a tactical retreat without getting shot in the ass again. 

She threw it with her broken arm and watched it sail in slow motion towards the centre of the crowd of Locusts. They turned almost simultaneously as Isolde turned tail and pelted up the street towards her waiting squad, the sudden force of the explosion throwing her to the ground at Harmony’s feet.

The matriarch of the squad helped the sergeant to her feet and brushed her down a little, pointless as it was, and clapped the younger woman on the shoulder.“Nice one, Sarge. Now let’s head off before we get strung up for Wretch food.”

Isolde could only nod, her throat dried out by either dust or the sudden memory she’d had. Maybe it was a combination of both, she mused as they jogged up the street towards the hole in the back wall where the Stranded had escaped from. 

Alice had moved ahead and was doing something to the wall of the biggest concrete building in the encampment. Once the squad was clear, she backed up quickly and hid behind a partition. Isolde turned and ducked behind a ruined car to watch, curious. The Locust troops, having been only temporarily stunned by Isolde’s grenade, rushed up the street. As soon as most of them were in the shadow of the huge concrete structure, Alice pushed a button. 

The effect was instantaneous: the C4 charges on the support pillars detonated and the huge building seemed to crumple and fall like a giant being brought to its knees. The tonnes of concrete smashed directly down onto the majority of the Locust soldiers, crushing them beneath its weight. The Locust lucky enough to be behind the block were thrown backwards by the shockwave, and those unlucky enough to be caught in front of the rubble were mowed down by Alice and Isolde. 

The two women grinned at each other, sharing an oddly special moment. The moment was then subsequently ruined by Adam Prescott clomping back in his size twelves to fetch them because otherwise they would have been left behind. Isolde scowled at him but scrambled to her feet and noticed Alice did the same. 

Isolde led the way, breaking into a steady rolling lope that ate up the distance between her and the rest of the squad with ease. She loped past them and continued up the narrow dirt path, her feet sure even on the uneven surface. “Keep up, kiddies!” Isolde couldn’t help but throw the words over her shoulder to tease her squad. She heard them groan loudly, and smiled.


	5. Locust Blood Milkshake

Isolde hurried the Stranded along, using the butt of her Lancer when necessary to provide incentive to move faster. Her squad was formed up around the large group as best they could, trying to hurry them along, but they were still moving too slowly for Isolde’s liking. Harmony and she exchanged looks: hers pissed off and Harmony’s vaguely worried and encouraging. 

The sergeant turned and stared down the path, her eyes darting around as she tried to see if the Locust were following them yet. Her heart started to race as she saw the tell-tale dust cloud of the pursuing Locusts, and she quickly raced to catch up with the group. “Move it, people! They’re right behind us! Don’t stop to look, just run!!”

Her voice was growly and hoarse from all the yelling and she noticed with satisfaction that the Stranded sped up a little more. 

To Isolde’s great horror, Locust rose up out of the bushes either side and made their way onto the path. She tried to stop but couldn’t, and ended up crashing right into two of them and knocking the enemy to the ground. 

She flailed around with the butt of her Lancer, punching with her other hand as hard as possible on any flesh she could contact. More Locusts converged on her, and she began kicking at them in desperation. Her mind went completely blank and her face settled into a savage snarl as she kicked, punched and bit her enemies to try and get away. 

Suddenly there were people pulling the stunned Locusts off her, and she sat up to take a breath. The wind had been knocked out of her and as she struggled to breathe she cast her eyes around: it had to be one of the strangest sights she’d ever seen, Stranded brawling with armed Locusts with no weapons except their bare fists and tree branches collected from the ground. She shook her head and took a huge heaving breath as her lungs remembered how to work. 

The Locusts were driven off through the power of sheer desperation and they ran, leaving their weapons behind. Several Stranded recovered the guns, and Isolde was hauled to her feet by Harmony. 

“Thanks…” She cleared her throat and addressed the group. “Obviously a full-out sprint won’t work to avoid the enemy. Alpha F: head through the woods. Alice, I want you to go ahead and see if we can’t get some advance warning on the obvious ambushes. You there… Prescott!” Adam saluted, and she continued. “I want you to stay in with the Stranded.” 

He objected but she held up her hand and talked over him. “We need at least one Gear in with the crowd.” He shut his mouth and nodded sullenly, and she patted him on the head. “You’ll be alright, kid.” He nodded again and watched her fade into the trees. 

Once she was away from the group Isolde took to a moment to lean against a tree and drink out of her water bottle, her eyes always searching for enemies as she caught her breath. Her damn broken arm was itching like hell again, and she’d lost her scratching fork in the skirmish at the Stranded camp. 

She bent down to grab a twig to replace the fork, and her heart missed a beat as she heard a sniper round whistle over her head and become embedded in the trunk of the tree. 

Immediately she ducked for cover behind a big log, her Lancer coming up as she returned fire blindly. Something heavy fell out of a tree a few hundred yards away, taking several branches with it, and Isolde waited. 

When the previously-silent birds started calling calmly again she assumed it was safe and got up, moving from cover to cover to investigate the sniper. It was a Locust lying face down in the dirt, of course, but the crude insignia on its shoulder wasn’t like anything she’d ever seen before. 

Constantly on the lookout for tricks, the sergeant poked it hard with the barrel of her Lancer, trigger already in the halfway position. It didn’t move, and when she kicked it over it was clear why; her rounds had made a neat diagonal line of exploded flesh through the Locusts’ unprotected chest. That was the second thing that stood out as odd to Isolde; there wasn’t a single protective plate on the Locusts’ body. 

“Now that’s just weird…” She bent down and searched it roughly, not exactly sure what she was looking for. 

Isolde’s rough search turned up nothing from the Locust pockets (she hadn’t even been aware that they had pockets) except ammo and a disgusting piece of what smelled like rotting toe-jam and was a strange bronze colour; she assumed it was a jerked meat of some indeterminable kind and tossed it rather than risk poisoning herself. She was about to leave the corpse to rot in the forest when its sniper rifle caught her eye. 

“Holy shit…” 

She picked it up and looked it over; it had been customised by someone who knew what they were doing. It felt like a part of her arm when she looked down the sight (which had also been modified to a ridiculous extent) and after a moment Isolde slung the weapon onto her back. “No sense letting good shit go to waste…” 

Her radio coming to life made her jump slightly and Harmony asked “Isolde where the hell are you?” The sergeant shifted and picked up her gun, telling the radio-voice “I’m on my way, just had to take care of some unfinished business.” 

While thoroughly sweeping the area with the rest of her squad, keeping pace either side of the group of rabble on the main path guarded by a single green rookie, Isolde took advantage of the momentary quiet to radio for a pick up. 

“Control this is Sergeant Isolde of Alpha F, requesting pick-up.” 

She cast her eyes over the group and added “Three of those tasty big-ass Ravens, if you’d be so kind Control. We’ve got a wounded girl who’s in pretty bad shape and a lot more civilians than we bargained for. Turns out there was quite the little community burrowed in up here.” 

Isolde scratched at her cast, muttering swears under her breath as Control told her “Copy that, Sergeant. Would you like fries with that?” 

Isolde smiled at the private joke and gave the customary reply “Large fries and a ‘shake, thanks.” The control operative could be heard grinning back as he asked “What flavour? Locust-blood?” Isolde made a face and spat on the ground in disgust. “You ever tasted Locust blood, Larry? It has to be the vilest thing that I’ve ever been unfortunate enough to have my mouth open for. O’Connor, out.” 

The Locust thought they’d sneak one last attack, but there was no force behind it and it seemed to Isolde that the Locust had no motivation. As she mowed one last monster down, she told Harmony “If you guys acted like that, I’d kick your butts.” 

Harmony laughed as she moved towards the waiting helicopters, urging a few straggling Stranded along with an encouraging look and was helped into the last helicopter, turning to watch Isolde look around one last time and make a massive jump into the Raven as it was taking off. Harmony helped her up and smiled at her sergeant. 

“If we acted like the Locust scum, Izzy, I’d tell the commander that you weren’t doing your job properly.” Isolde made a face at her and turned to stare out the open side of the helicopter as they headed back to Jacinto for debriefing and, Isolde thought hopefully, a burning hot cup of coffee.


	6. Black Tar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: some naughty language ahead.

Isolde leaped out of the Raven before it even landed telling Harmony and the world “GODDAMN I need a giant cup of coffee… like at least half of my blood volume's worth. Wanna treat me?” 

Harmony grinned and was about to reply, but broke off before she even began and looked past Isolde as she climbed down out of the helicopter. Isolde, seeing where she was looking, turned and saw Chairman Prescott standing waiting for them with his hands behind his back, hair blowing in the wind created by the Raven’s blades. 

The women exchanged looks, and then Isolde moved forwards. “Chairman Prescott, sir.” She saluted as neatly as possible with a broken arm, and he blinked as though coming out of a deep trance of thought. “Welcome back… Sergeant.” 

He searched the people now disembarking from the Raven, Isolde already forgotten. She got out of his way and rolled her eyes at Harmony from behind his back, pulling a mocking face. Adam ran forwards, staying at the side of the injured girl as she was whisked away by the paramedics to the hospital. “Adam!” 

The sound of his fathers’ voice seemed to bring him back to reality, and reluctantly he approached. “Hello father…” The moment was awkward, and silence stretched between the two men. However Isolde broke it rather spectacularly by stretching too hard and popping a rib. She dropped to the cement below with a cry of pain, her chest on fire. “Isolde…!” Harmony’s voice faded in and out as the searing pain of the displaced rib made her pass out for a second, but she was back very quickly and opened her eyes to see Harmony, Adam and the Chairman standing over her. 

Gasping she held a hand out to them. “Help me up, would you?” Harmony and Adam carefully helped her upright into a sitting position, and then hauled her to her feet. “Fucking hell…” She breathed shallowly as she doubled over, fighting nausea. “Are you alright, Sergeant?” She swallowed and straightened slowly with a grimace. “Rib popped out of place again… it was painful enough the first time it was broken, sir.” 

The Chairman seemed professionally concerned, but as soon as she assured him she was alright, he walked away towards command. Isolde leaned on Harmony and glared her best death-glare at the man’s retreating back, muttering “Fucking cunt of a man… more shit spews out of his mouth in one conversation than out of the ass of a rookie who’s eaten too many rotten rations”. Harmony nodded, adding her own death glare. 

“Any self-respecting woman would want to dance on his grave.” Her face eased into a sad smile as she helped Isolde across to the hospital to get her rib re-set. “I’ve done my biological duty to continuing the human race, and I’m proud of that.” Isolde patted her old friend on the chest plate comfortingly as they went into the hospital, telling her “Now you get to help defend what you helped create. I’m sure that’s a good feeling for you.” 

After a few moments of outside conversation with an orderly in blood-stained scrubs, Isolde groaned. "Fuck this hurts." The doctor appeared and beckoned to her, and Harmony helped Isolde into an examination room where she began removing her protective plating. “Yet again you’re in here straight after a mission, Sergeant. We should slap a ‘Fragile’ sticker to your ass-plate… alright, what’s wrong with you this time?” Isolde glared at him. “Apart from a pain-in-the-ass doctor making terrible jokes, I popped a rib when I stretched. Oh and my arm is as itchy as fuck and a Locust stole my scratching fork in a fight.” 

The doctor nodded. “That means your arm’s healing… raise your arms for me and bite down on the wood there.” Before she did so she sighed and muttered.“It’s such an inglorious way to break ribs, especially since I got tossed around a lot by the Locust scum today.”Harmony covered her ears, but it turned out not to be necessary. Isolde sat through the whole thing calmly as the doctor said “You being thrown around is what weakened the bond; you pushed it too far. Be glad it’s only the one”.

Once it was done she shifted experimentally and then thanked the doctor. He sighed and walked out without replying, and Isolde shrugged. She turned to Harmony and asked “How about that cup of coffee, old friend?” 

*

It was just a short walk from the hospital to the only café still left in Jacinto. Since its rivals had been looted during various attacks, it was doing thriving business. The proprietors of the store, an older woman and her crippled son, served the steady stream of people ebbing in and out of the place with good nature and ready smiles. 

Harmony and Isolde made their way into the place, pushing a few idly chatting male Gears out of the way to get to a reserved table in the very back corner. The old lady saw them enter and waved at them, and Isolde waved back as she took her seat at the table. After a few moments, the old lady bustled over with a smile. “How are two of my favourite Gears?” She pinched Isolde’s cheek and kissed Harmony’s as they both murmured pleasantries. 

She bustled off again to get coffee and Isolde very carefully stretched out her whole body until she was sitting practically off the edge of the chair. Harmony leaned her head on her hand and her elbow on the table as she commented thoughtfully “Alice’s mother is really nice to always have this table reserved for us.” 

Isolde grinned impishly as she childishly swung a foot, being careful not to boot Harmony in the shins. 

“That’s just one of the benefits of saving someone’s life. You always have a table reserved at that persons’ mothers’ coffee shop.” She smirked at her friend and added “I should have gotten a fucking medal for dashing through enemy lines to get her wounded ass outta there. But this, I think, is better.” 

Alice’s younger brother, a very tall, very pale youth with large luminous blue eyes that were still surprisingly gentle after so many years of war and hardship brought two cups over on a tray. He set them down in a practised motion, the chipped-but-still-good teacup with a herbal blend for Harmony and the massive mug of boiling hot extra strength black coffee for Isolde. “Thank you, Daniel.” The boy nodded, smiling gently at them as he returned to the counter holding the tray on his head like a hat.

The sergeant took a gulp of the coffee and sighed as it warmed her. “Nothin’ better than a cup of hydroponic coffee to lift the spirits.” Harmony smiled at her as she sipped the herbal tea. “Get you a proper cup of coffee in a big mug with a handle and you’re anyone’s.” Isolde shrugged.“It’s not my fault I’m a caffeine junkie. Blame the system.” 

She yawned lazily and looked around, wondering if the others were going to join them. The woman felt she was able to rule out Adam, since he’d probably be with that injured girl. Alice sadly didn’t want anything to do with her mother and brother, avoiding them when possible. Isolde had a few ideas on the subject, but the other woman had never shared the reason behind her dislike of her family and wisely the others had never pressed her on it. 

It didn’t rule out Megan and Claire, but Isolde’s knowledge of them told her that Megan wouldn’t be joining them; instead she was probably seeing her girlfriend. That made Isolde smile; the male Gears who hit on Megan never knew, but were always surprised to find out the attractive young woman’s sexual orientation. Then Isolde considered what Adam’s reaction would be, and was surprised to find that she already thought of him as part of her little family, albeit as an annoying pain-in-the-ass baby brother.

When she looked up, she found that Harmony was watching her with an amused expression. Suddenly self-conscious, Isolde looked away and asked “What?” 

Harmony shook her head and looked down at her teacup. "You smile a lot when you think no-one's looking at you." Isolde went a little red; it was hard enough maintaining a gruff exterior in the face of so many male soldiers, she didn't need to be accidentally smiling at them when she zoned out. "Well now you've told me I'm going to have to work at not doing it." Harmony scoffed, leaning back. “Why not? It’s not exactly uncommon, and nothing to be ashamed of.” Isolde shrugged and downed the rest of her coffee in one large gulp. “I’m ashamed of it. End of discussion.”

The sergeant was gone before Harmony could say anything further, and the older woman sighed as she realised she’d upset Isolde. However there was nothing she could do about it right then, because her attention was drawn away to a loud verbal fight between two older Gears. It wouldn’t have interested her normally, but she thought heard her youngest son’s name murmured underneath the louder words of the other Gears and looked wildly to try and locate who’d said it. 

When she came up with nothing she bit back the bitter tide of disappointment that she always felt with a setback regarding finding her sons and went to the counter to pay, hoping like hell that Isolde wasn’t going to do anything stupid while Harmony wasn’t there to stop her. The younger woman was like a daughter to her, and Harmony chuckled quietly to herself as she realised that all the girls on the squad were like daughters. “Oh I’m so old…” 

With a jaunty whistle, the grey-haired Gear left the coffee shop to go home to a nice hot bath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The girls hate the Chairman due to an order that he gave that women were required to serve their planet by producing more children. He was super unpopular because of that for a long time, especially in Alpha F squad.


End file.
